What?
by embracing-shadows
Summary: Nick arrives at work with the intention of killing his best friend and leaves with a date. Wait, what?


Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot!

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Nick Stokes was pissed. Not the kind of pissed where you've had a bad morning and nothing seems to go right. No, this was the kind of pissed where your friend has done something almost unforgivable and you're contemplating where to hide the body after you have killed them. Slowly. He narrowed his eyes as his feet carried him swiftly in to the Las Vegas crime lab in search of Warrick Brown, who was soon to be his first murder victim. No remorse would be had, what the guy had done was just too much. This was irrevocably horrid. He passed by Judy the receptionist, who noted his rage with her gossip-intent expression, and literally flew through the halls, searching for his victim. He wasn't in the lay out or evidence rooms. Nick bypassed the labs because he could see through the glass walls that the tall African-American was not in any of them.

His last resort was the break room. Nick stormed inside, throwing the door open, and scanned through the shocked faces in the rooms. His eyes lit up dangerously when they spotted Warrick on the couch and his fingers formed claws. The other man went still and looked a little scared. Nick started towards him but he jumped out of his seat and skidded to the other side of the table. They played the guess which way I'm going to run game for a moment, oblivious to the people watching their death dance, until the taller man bolted out the door and Nick chased him through the halls issuing enraged screams. They attracted a lot of attention, but once they had passed each door the resident of that room shrugged and returned to their work. Nothing extraordinary about their chase. Nick finally cornered him in the garage, where a black Sudan was waiting to be processed for a homicide. Warrick almost whimpered.

"Please don't kill me Nick. Best buds, remember?" he held up his hands in surrender as the angry Texan stalked him, slowly inching closer and wishing he were holding a gun.

"You sent me to a _gay bar_?!" he yelled. Warrick winced and tried to look apologetic. That only fueled Nick, who continued to advance upon his helpless prey. His eyes cast about for potential weapons and they settled on a wrench, which he tossed at his friend. Warrick yelped and dodged it, along with the screwdriver that was thrown next. As Nick picked up a hammer he held up his hands again.

"Ok stop, look! I just…I just thought…you know…maybe it was time for you to come out of the closet?" his attempt at innocence caused a twitch in Nick's right eye, but the hammer was lowered. Anger still flowed through him, but a severely lessened amount.

"You…you know?" he asked quietly. Warrick just nodded and shrugged a little, nervously eyeing the tool still gripped tightly in Nick's hand. He was tensed and ready to continue the toss and dodge game in case his reasoning was faulty and Nick hadn't wanted to be found out. The Texan in question narrowed his eyes again and turned his head a little to give Warrick what everyone called 'The Eye of Death'. He challenged his oldest friend with, "And why would you do that?" Warrick let out a very small bit of the breath he was holding,

"Well I figured since one of the gay men in the lab came clean, the other should too," he declared. Nick stopped glaring as shock welled up inside him. The hammer dropped and he had to perform a quick little skip to get his foot out of harm's way. When his foot was safe and the hammer was placed back on its tray he looked back up at Warrick with an inscrutable look on his face.

"There's another guy down here who's gay?" he asked. Warrick nodded and pointed behind him. Nick turned and followed his finger. The doors to the garage were glass so they allowed a perfect view of the labs, and directly in his line of sight there was Greg Sanders, leaning on a wall and chatting up one of the temp female techs. She laughed and touched his chest and he winked at her. Nick turned back to Warrick and raised his eyebrow as if to ask about his sanity. The taller man urged him to keep watching, so Nick turned back around. Greg continued to flirt, and Nick almost went back to trying to murder his friend when the female turned away and he got a good look at Greg's face. The blonde tech looked relieved when she turned, and immediately stopped grinning his flirtatious grin. Then his attention veered towards the ass of a _male_ temp tech walking by. The blonde wiggled his eyebrows appreciatively and turned away to do his work. Nick whipped his head about to look at Warrick, who shrugged knowingly.

"I told you man. I've caught him staring at you so many times I should have kept a tally!" he crossed his arms and gave Nick a pointed look. Nick flushed, knowing Warrick must have caught the curious looks he himself had sent the younger man. He barely noticed as his dark skinned friend got up and walked away, now confident he wasn't going to die, and he stumbled out of the garage towards the object of his secret crush. Greg was humming something tuneless as he typed on his computer, oblivious that his non-secret had just been shared with someone else. He looked up when Nick shambled in and grinned genuinely. He jumped out of his chair and grabbed a file off the desk on the other side of the room, handing it to Nick. Nick wasn't concentrating enough to take it. He was studying the blonde as if there would some visible sign of his sexuality. Greg burst out laughing.

"Found out I was gay did you?" he chuckled, not at all self-conscious. Nick nodded and Greg mimicked the action. "Look, I can get Archie to hand you results if it makes you uncomfortable." He shrugged and turned away to his machines and chemicals. Nick remained rooted to the spot, trying to find a few words to put together a sentence.

"Dinner," he blurted. And in his head, it was such a good sentence too! But that one word was apparently all he could manage. Greg looked over his lithe shoulder at the dark-haired man in the doorway.

"Pardon?" he asked. Nick cleared his throat a couple times and tried again.

"Would you…like to…go to dinner with me?" he asked. Greg blinked a few times, but a wide, slow smile spread across his face. He chuckled at how nervous Nick was and nodded, his eyes gentle.

"Absolutely, just uh, let me know when you're up for it," he said softly. Nick nodded too, and then he picked up his results and turned around, walking down the hall. He found Warrick in the break room again, still surrounded by the other CSIs. He walked right up to the tall man and hugged the stuffing out of him. Then he got some coffee and sat down. Half way through his cup he felt a prickling sensation and looked up to find all his coworkers looking at him like he'd snapped under the pressure. He tilted his head quizzically.

"What?"


End file.
